The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1887-05-07

the South 10 the rest of the Union were
such that il could only hold its own BY
n, ,far-sighted and ever vigilant states.
manship. The genius Of this section
| was employed where it was most
| needed, and its growth was arrested in
! one direction while it was highly dee
veloped in another. 1t Is not strange.
therefore, that at the time when South
ern supremacy in national politics was
Il common complaint there were very
few professional men of letters south
of Mason and Dixon's line.
1t was a change in external condi>
ttons, not in character or genius, that
| induced that recent literary movement
in the South which Mr.. Coleman has
cursorily sketched. 1t is true that the
Southern States have been even more
in need Of craftsmanship since than be-
fore the war but the impoverishmeut
OF the old governing class compelled
its young men 10 earn their living by
turning their energies into new chan.
nels, and so it happened that many OF
them become active literary workers,
The women of that class in the South
have always been remarkable for the
cultivation and refinement of their
in'ellects, and they, too, have become
breadwianers in this congeniai EN-.
ployment.
Coming now to define the distinct>
i've traits OF recent Southern literature,
we woutd say, in the first place, that
1t III more poetic, picturesque and
romantic than the current literature of
the North. Craddock we regard AS the
greatest word-painter anywhere to-day
IN tho Eagiish-speakiug world, not
even Blackmore, William Black or
Thomas Hardy, being quite equal to
her In that respect. Indeed, her one
great fault Is that she overworks her
wonderful descriptive power. Blu,
like all tho moro famous of contem.
porary Southern writer's, she Is largely
dependent upon local color and pro-
Vincial flavor, and her landscapes seem
to be an essential part of her story,
Bat while Southern literature Is roman.
tic 1t is at the same time realistic,
Craddock's Mountaineers, Johnstop's
"Gcorgia Crackers uarris's old plan.
tation darkies, arc exact portraits of
genuine originals. The romantic ten.
dency of these writer's Is due to the
warmth OF their sympathy aud to their
prediction for the stimulating mys.
terry of II plot.
But the Suuthera fiction owes u great
part OF its charm to the novelty OF its
materials. Until within u very few
years past scarcely any people In the
world were more unknown than the
negroes and the poor white people of
tho South. Their quaint manners,
their strange dialects, their simple but
intense passions, revealed now for the
!irsl time, have brought refreshment
and relief to the jaded readers of tho
society novel. Then these young
writer's are revelation in themselves.
They are citizens of the new South
who were born in the old South. and
their pages betray the transition which
they are personally undergoing.
But recent Southern literature Is
much more than novel. 1t has per-
manent value, and we believe that II
will influence for good the moral tone
and the artistic form of our national
literature. 1t furnishes Just the en-.
thu5iasm and hearty humanity which
arc wanting to the cool, analytic
Northern mind. we will even go so
far as to say that what Mr.. Coleman
has called tho recent movement In
Southern literature is the beginning of
q reaction which must be felt through
out American literature: Tor realism
without romance belongs rather to
science Than TO The literature pf the
imagination.
Henry LabOuchere, in London Truth,
gives II dig at Worth's gowns in his
remarks about Mrs. Brown Potter.